mikeprichard

Oh right, I forgot about Leader Halm's check for training (need Leadership of at least 3, but also can't be aligned with Takers, and can't have Trajkov Amulet). And you're right - I know there are way more reputation/opinion opportunities than I need just to reduce to 90 (for Obeyers - again, assuming that value hasn't changed) then to increase to 110 (for Awakened), so that's fine. I think I'm mostly set now - still not sure whether Darian will set you to a reputation of either 90 or 110 regardless of your current reputation value (which is how I think he worked in original G1), but that's just academic for my purposes, as I shouldn't even need to use the service. Cheers! UPDATE: Obeyers seem to still have a 90 or less reputation check to join, per these lines in z13pentildlg.txt (if I'm reading correctly): Also, Darian does set to either 90 or 110 rep as needed, per z50pvaledlg.txt: UPDATE UPDATE: Just one minor correction for Randomizer's atlas: per z7ellhrahdlg.txt, the Awakened Leadership needed to skip the faction quest is indeed 8 as Mechalibur noted, not 10 as in the atlas list.

Thanks, Randomizer and Mechalibur - you two are machines! (And yes, Slarty, I probably did plagiarize from your posts for my own munchkininity.) So, Mechalibur's plan seems pretty close to my existing notes. A few specific follow-up questions, if you'd be so kind: 1) Do these "actions" (helping/hurting serviles) have any bearing on my munchkin guide above, i.e. on the ability to join factions and get the listed faction-locked rewards? If not, what specific game impact do they have? 2) Is reputation/opinion of 90 or below (i.e. 10 or more below the neutral 100 value) still required to join the Obeyers? 3) Will Darian still set your reputation/opinion value to either exactly 90 or exactly 110 - enough to allow joining the various factions? 4) Leadership (8 for Obeyers, 10 for Awakened and Takers per Randomizer's atlas) apparently only allows you to skip the joining quest for each faction, but Leadership alone will not allow you to join, correct? If so, this may not actually be a change compared to original G1 like I'd initially assumed; per my guide above, I never tried to use Leadership to join factions anyway, so I don't remember if I ever tried to join a faction without the needed reputation. 5) Are there any other uses to reputation/opinion in GF1: Mutagen than allowing to join one of the factions? Now that prices aren't affected by reputation/opinion per Randomizer, it seems a one-note stat (though that one note - joining a faction - is of course very important!).

I haven't for GF1: Mutagen at least, but some of the inspiration/info for this was from a topic you started a few years ago (https://spiderwebforums.ipbhost.com/topic/22174-g1-info-revelations/#entry289423), which I referenced when I did a second playthrough of original G1 around that time. But I don't think I actually posted what would have been a somewhat different version of my notes on the forum before... I could be wrong though! EDIT: I had to hunt through my own old posts, but I did create a mini-guide post in 2014 on G5 reputations (https://spiderwebforums.ipbhost.com/topic/20588-geneforge-5-reputationfaction-guide-completecorrected/?tab=comments#comment-272443). Maybe that's what you were thinking of?

Ha, that's what I was assuming too - thanks for correcting. Also, the Charmed Falchion above is listed as +5 to Stealth, but in your atlas as +4 - I'm guessing the latter is correct.

Years back, I compiled the below extremely munchinky notes that worked in the original G1 to end as an Awakened (though I have made a few updates based on reading the new guidance - e.g. only Leadership 10 instead of 12 is now needed to join the Awakened without a quest; Learned Jaffee now teaches Create Fyora instead of Fire Shaping; I no longer plan to bother with joining the Takers as well, since their faction-locked benefits are trash, and they also happen to be psychopaths). If anyone with familiarity with GF1: Mutagen could please review the below and confirm whether it's still correct/possible, I'd appreciate it. One particular apparent change I don't understand is in Randomizer's atlas (https://spiderwebforums.ipbhost.com/topic/26270-gf1-m-atlas-to-quests-and-items-massive-spoilers/), which notes "opinions or actions start at 100" and "Clakkit gives servile level of opinion and crimes (actions) as pro-servile, neutral, pro-Shaper". "Opinion" seems clear, as I assume it corresponds to original G1's simple "reputation" stat, with + and - opinion changes listed depending on dialogue and quest choices. However, I don't understand what "actions" exactly are, why they always show as positive and never negative in the atlas list, and whether/how these "actions" might affect my notes below. I also don't know whether joining the Obeyers still has a 90 or below reputation requirement, as I don't see any related notes in the atlas. Thanks! EDIT: corrected to align with Randomizer's/Mechalibur's posts below and additional confirmation from Randomizer at https://spiderwebforums.ipbhost.com/topic/26304-possible-bug-pentil-merchant-prices-still-ridiculous-when-allied-with-obeyers/?tab=comments#comment-314973: The player starts the game with a "neutral" reputation of 100, with reputation of less than 100 considered "pro-Shaper" and more than 100 considered "pro-servile." Various conversation options during the game will increase or decrease your reputation accordingly; Learned Darian in Peaceful Vale can also be used to instantly set your reputation to either 90 (if greater than 90) or 110 (if less than 110), but only once. A reputation of 90 or below will allow you to join the Obeyer faction; a reputation of 110 or above will allow you to join the Awakened or Takers factions, although your reputation value for this purpose is checked only when each related faction quest is given. In addition, your current reputation value will affect merchant prices in the various faction strongholds, and Dig will only train you in Stealth if your reputation is at least 96. To get the most quests/conversation options/loot, first say "pro-Shaper" things in order to get the Obeyer quest from Leader Rydell in Pentil to feed Control Four; complete the quest and join the Obeyers by talking to Leader Rydell, then talk to Learned Jaffee in Pentil for a free point in Create Fyora (if you have at least 5 Leadership) and a Sholai language lesson (if you've learned about Trakjov and have met Masha). Then, say “pro-servile” things in order to get the Awakened quest from Ellhrah in Ellhrah's Keep to kill Control Four; complete the quest and join the Awakened by talking to Ellhrah, then talk to Swan in Ellhrah's Keep for combat skill training and talk to Sorkin in Pentil East for a Sholai language lesson. (The Takers can also be joined for their rewards either before or after joining the Awakened. However, joining then leaving the Takers for another faction will cause everyone in Kazg to become permanently hostile.)

Thank you both for being so patient with my questions and clarifications! Got it.

Thanks, I am checking that out. CTRL+F is a friend. A few more questions, if you don't mind: in your (Mechalibur's) post above, do you mean "Icy Tunnels" instead of "Icewalls" for the Quick Action boost you listed? Also, even though that's apparently from a sarcophagus, it seems from nlambert's index that unlike other sarcophagus boosts, it doesn't require your base skill to be at 0 to work, correct (he has it in the "Trainers" section)? If it does require base skill of 0 - though I don't think that's the case - your other topic listing skill boost totals excluding sarcophagi should probably have +2 for Quick Action (Pentil quest + Swan) instead of +3. Finally, nlambert says 3 Mechanics are needed for that boost, Randomizer's atlas has 4, and you have 5 - which is correct?

OK, got it, and your list (and of course the massive atlas) are already extremely useful and appreciated. I'm compiling a complete list of all skill boost locations for my own one-stop use, and may post here later for others interested.

Uh, sorry - edited my post!

EDIT: Sorry - thought Mechalibur missed something that h/she didn't - was looking only in one place in that list for Stealth and missed the other! Would be really helpful regardless if Randomizer could please continue expanding the original post to be a single convenient comprehensive list of skill boost locations, including the few Mechalibur listed but Randomizer currently hasn't.

OK, thank you both for the clarifications.

While a few sarcophagi are likely too late in the game to be practical to use, I'm adding the full list here so for completeness. Sarcophagi (can obtain bonus only if related skill without items is currently 0) Missile Weapons: +1 (Southbridge) Quick Action: +1 (The Tombs) Evasion: +1 (The Tombs) Battle Magic: +1 (Inner Crypt; very late game) Mental Magic: +1 (The Tombs) Blessing Magic: +1 (The Tombs) Spellcraft: +1 (Southbridge) Battle Shaping: +1 (The Tombs) Magic Shaping: +1 (The Tombs) Healing Craft: +1 (The Tombs) Leadership: +1 (Sealed Lab; fairly late game) Mechanics: +1 (Sealed Lab; fairly late game) Stealth: +1 (Sealed Lab; fairly late game) Bonus Skills (notes to Mechalibur's above list) Note the three training bonuses (Leadership +1 with Halm in Drayk's Vale for 2000c, only if Leadership at least 3, not allied with Takers, and don't have Trajkov Amulet; Mechanics +1 with Flig in Winding Road for 2000c; Stealth +1 with Dig in Patrol Bridge for 2000c, only if servile reputation not too low) are included in Mechalibur's "Bonus Skills" section above.

Yep, that's exactly what I meant - it doesn't need to be a full "mod" to be linked in Strateg-ery Central! Quick instructions on this to easily link there would be great - maybe the link could just go directly to your post above, assuming people should be sophisticated enough to find the file to edit in the game's "Scripts" folder.

Enjoy! Spiderweb games are the ONLY games that are guaranteed day-one purchases for me; always have been, and I've never been disappointed. I did solo Agent (and in later games, solo Servile) runs back with the original series, but I'm looking forward to trying out a Guardian or full-on Shaper this time with the cool new creation skills/features. Justice for serviles! ✊

alhoon, that's huge! I will never be able to take back those 15 hours of my life spent smashing my face against the screen to move those infernal little buggers around a grid pixel by pixel, but that sure isn't your fault. Really pleased to see there seems to be a simple and completely effective solution - thanks for sharing! Going to look into this later for my own game. I do suggest that just your detailed instructions on this would be great to have prominently linked somewhere in the good ol' Strategy Central when that goes up. UPDATE: Yep, I just tested your trick in game for a few minutes, and it works perfectly, both for fyoras and cryoas (and I'm sure other pairs of creatures including the base creation and color-swap version). Got to admit I really, really wish Jeff had thought to explain this easy trick to me and saved me a lot of time (I have to assume he was aware of the cr_scaling stat) when I emailed him a couple weeks ago to report some bugs that unfortunately didn't seem to be caught in beta as well as the suggestion for smaller fyoras. I think he said there and/or on one of his fun demo streams later when someone else also raised the issue that smaller fyoras would be tough on his eyes or something, lol. Eh, all's well that ends well. Thanks again for the assist!

Thanks, Slarty, and yes, the G1:M fyora graphics have only been around since G4. That said, as I'll indicate in my new topic after the game drops, anyone with the skill and inclination to try to adapt the files for other purposes (e.g. changing critter color, using with G1-G3 if even possible, etc.) will of course be free to take a look!

Thanks! But if the moderators do end up linking this in a mod list, could they please wait a couple days until I post the mod with installation instructions and brief notes in a new topic under the new dedicated Geneforge 1 Mutagen forum? (Again, I'm assuming from past experience such a forum will be created.)

Of course! The download isn't blocked for me in either Firefox or Edge - and the OP used the same site for their upload - but I did need to create a free account somewhere, so here it is on Mediafire. Please let me know if you're still having issues! EDIT: removed obsolete link to files made redundant by alhoon's much better modding solution below (i.e. editing the "cr_scaling" stat in the GFitemschars.txt file in the game "Scripts" folder).

I've now finished the job to reduce fyoras and cryoas to 60% of their original monstrous size; the temporary link to the .zip with the seven files is below. This took me 15 hours of painstaking manual edits in paint.net, so I won't be doing any more work on this, but I'm posting the files here for the next couple days in case anyone miraculously comes up with a very quick and simple method to correct the slight "wobbling" in the idle animations (per file G2500.png, as I detailed above) that I wasn't able to fully fix by my method. After the game releases on the 24th, I'll post a permanent link to the files in a new forum topic, under the new dedicated Geneforge 1 - Mutagen forum I assume the admins will create at that time. For now, enjoy trying this in the demo! EDIT: removed obsolete link to files made redundant by alhoon's much better modding solution below (i.e. editing the "cr_scaling" stat in the GFitemschars.txt file in the game "Scripts" folder).

I agree re: the cones not aligning perfectly not being a big deal, and I can even live with the fyoras not being perfectly still on their feet as long as they're close, assuming I can't figure out TADOS' layer trick to help me align them better and such better alignment is even possible. So... does this mean I need to subject myself to another 6 hours of pain adjusting the remaining three files (he asked, hoping the answer was "no")? (heh) If so, I'll try to get it done over the next week and upload all seven files to a new topic as the final version of the 60% fyora/cryoa mod as far as I can take it.

Thanks for the input, TADOS! Lining up the fyoras' feet is exactly what I've been trying to do, but doing it precisely through a manual process has proven impossible, at least for me. I'm curious to hear alhoon's thoughts on your other ideas on this if he/she has time to review my uploaded files showing my progress so far. As for the fireball positions, I don't think shifting the fyora would work, as that would cause the smaller fyoras to be placed too far up within the grid square they're supposed to be positioned in. I'd also prefer not to change the fyora body posture/limb length etc., but would rather keep them at vanilla proportions, just smaller. I also don't have any plans to change the color or make any changes beyond simply reducing the sprite size to 60% of the original (which I've tested in game and personally strongly prefer), but I hope to eventually post the smaller critters in a new forum topic, and open things up to other users to make other changes they might like to see themselves (i.e. setting sizes other than my preferred 60%, changing color, changing other sprites, etc.).

OK, I see what you mean about the cryoas, shadows, and image quality - bummer. Here are the four out of the seven files I've done so far. Maybe you could take a look and see if you have ideas to fix the two issues I'm seeing with my method ("wobbling" and fire/frost breath sourcing from the wrong height, though I assume the latter issue could only be fixed by editing separate breath image files, if that's even possible)? EDIT: removed obsolete link to files made redundant by alhoon's much better modding solution below (i.e. editing the "cr_scaling" stat in the GFitemschars.txt file in the game "Scripts" folder).

Sounds good and no problem; please take your time as you need to - the game doesn't launch for another couple weeks anyway!

Actually, I was thinking that centering them within each box might itself cause problems where the fyora idle animations might have them popping up/down/left/right slightly from one frame to the next, but you clearly know what you're doing better than I, so if you're not seeing any issues in game, go with it!

Just had a thought - when you say your method will "shrink the fyora per box", that might cause a more severe pixel misalignment/"wobbling" issue if the fyoras aren't bottom-justified - i.e. if the position of their feet within each box isn't perfectly aligned top to bottom across each grid row within each image file. Aligning them perfectly in all cases seems impossible through my manual method - moving various individual images by one pixel and switching back to the game repeatedly to test is what took so many of my 6 hours for the first 4 files, but I still couldn't get them exactly still on their feet while idling and finally gave up. Not sure if I'm making sense or you've already accounted for this, but FYI!